Chronicles of Narnia: The Lost Legend
by jacktheratrix
Summary: As Narnia enjoys its Golden Age, a deep darkness broods in the depths of the mountains of the Western Wild, and a new and powerful foe arises. Will the Kings and Queens be strong enough to save Narnia from this new threat? (Set during the reign and rule of the Pevensies) DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, OR THE NAME OF THE VILLAIN (oh well, eh?). M for Violence
1. Ominous Proceedings

**OK everybody, hold onto your hats. i know this first one is ridiculously short, but its only meant for foreshadowing! Stick with me here, i'll be posting new chapters every monday from here on out (including tomorrow)!**

* * *

**Prologue**

* * *

Somewhere in the darkness of the Western Wild, a shrill voice echoed out to pariahs' ears:

"My followers, for six years, you have been abandoned, ostracized, belittled, expelled from society. The Narnians hate you, they curse you for only having followed me, and well, those who are still loyal to me, I commend you for your perseverance, for now I have returned, now we shall infiltrate and rule Narnia once more!

"After six grueling years of searching, I have finally found the one who will lead us to our victory, our first king! My hags summon him now."

The gathered crowd of evil creatures cheered their leader's enthusiasm and zeal, and then slowly fell silent, watching three hags chant an incantation that would summon their first king.

* * *

_...To Be Continued..._


	2. Captain Bruno Stolle

It was late in the afternoon, and Bruno Stolle was sweaty and grimy from being in the cockpit for hours on end. His unit, Lehrgeschwader 1, had returned from a brutal day in the skies above Great Britain's town of Finchley, where they had pressed north of London until they had sustained heavy casualties. His own Stuka was in bad condition due to the few very close calls in encounters with enemy idiotenreihen earlier that day.

He had been on a freie jagd with three comrades in a four-finger formation that turned sour when they suddenly came up on a vic formation of enemy Hurricane Mk 1s out of some denser clouds. The vic of Hurricanes were soaring beneath them, flying the same direction, so he had led his formation down upon the RAF fliers. He had shot down the lead aircraft before the two wingmen even knew of his presence, but they immediately banked outward and up, to come above him. The two other Stukas with him were eliminated in quick succession, and then it was he and a fellow Nazi BF 110 flying against the RAF's two Hurricanes. He opted to dive, and had nearly plummeted to the earth when he pulled out and the Hurricane which had given chase had just barely made it out of the dive before it would have erupted upon the earth. He had banked left and attempted a counter attack, but the Hurricane's agility was higher, and the aircraft was nearly coming at him again already, so he decided on a straight climb. The Hurricane couldn't quite manage this, so instead, it flanked the BF 110 which was coming across its nose and being pursued by the other Hurricane and the two RAF pilots downed his comrade. He flicked his boosters and headed back south toward the rest of the currently flying squadrons for support.

Later, they were flying back to base when a squadron of RAF planes intercepted them, coming from above and diving onto their finger-four pattern squad. In the initial onslaught, nearly half of the "yellow" and "green" flights had gone down. Then in the ensuing dogfight, his squadron had taken heavy losses before the RAF pulled out and returned to base. A number of similar dogfights had added up to frazzle his nerves, and now that he was once again on hard ground, he—more than anything—longed for a dip in the nearby river.

It was through the woods a bit, yet not so far that it wasn't worth it, it was only about a two minute walk behind the airstrips.

He walked along the path which led to the river deep in thought. He was an angry man, and his dark eyes seemed brooding, even when he _wasn't_ scowling, which wasn't often, he admitted to himself. He wished that his officers would notice his valor in the skies and would reward him for it; he thirsted for power. If only he could rise through the ranks so that he could command and lead more aircraft. Maybe eventually he would be appointed general, or even higher. He smiled wickedly at picturing his underlings doing all the dirty work for him, and only he himself receiving the glory and power for their feats on the battlefield and in the air.

Suddenly there was motion to his right, in the trees. His head snapped up, senses on high alert. No one else was out here, he knew. He had come alone. His eyes scanned the nearby forest in that direction. Then movement flashed again, and his eyes caught the form of something canine. A wolf. Then, as if on cue, a howl emanated from behind him.

"Blast, it's a pack," he muttered. An answering howl came from his left, and he grabbed his sidearm from its holster, then he took his combat knife from its sheath on his left thigh. He stood ready, and backed up against a thick tree. He waited there for a moment or two, then they came. Five of them. He sought out the largest of the five, assuming it to be the alpha male and leader. He put a bullet in the dog's chest, then one was charging from his right, and he hit the ground as it jumped at him, and over him. He shot another charging wolf and it whined for a brief moment before being silent. Now down to three, the pack was more careful about taking him on.

"Come on!" He shouted in challenge. But then there were three more. In that moment, he knew he shouldn't have expected only five wolves to be in a pack. But no matter, he thought, and faced another charging canine. He raised his gun, it reported, and the beast hit the dust. Then, however, he was struck from behind as a wolf rammed into him and bit at his leg. He roared in pain and anger and swung the blade down upon the wolf's neck, the cold steel sinking deep into it. He withdrew the knife and shot another. Three again, he thought. But the others dared not attack this deadly warrior. They may not have been intelligent, sentient beings, but they were not stupid. They fled, and Bruno fired one last shot into the air, for good measure. He returned his weapons to their respective holders, and continued to the river. He reached it no more than a minute later, and he scoffed.

"A river, my backside," he muttered, "More like a trickling brook." In truth, the water was a good sized stream, but not a mighty river. He spotted a slightly deeper pool a bit upstream, and made his way to it.

He was in a black mood, but then, he always was. He saw a squirrel munching a small morsel on a low branch of a tree, and blasted it out of spite. He rolled his eyes and stripped off his clothes down to his skivvies. He stepped into the frigid water, and shivered. He was treading water at first, to warm up a little bit. It was not warm out, but he liked the water. He remembered playing water polo back in Münster, how dominant he had been and the physical way he played the game. He remembered almost drowning some shrimp a few years back. Then he dove beneath the surface. He swam like a frog for a little bit, and then performed the breast stroke deep under the surface. Then, as everyone eventually does, he surfaced for air.

* * *

_...To Be Continued..._


	3. Honeypaw

A hulking form wandered through the thick woods meandering between the trees. He was on a relaxed stroll to his favorite fishing spot along the Great River.

At one point, he felt a most abominable itching, so he leaned against the nearest thick redwood and scratched his rough fur on the bark happily. After that, he continued along, until he caught a most interesting scent. The soft breeze was blowing from the river, so he followed the scent on the flowing of air, sniffing curiously. He recognized this scent, and it terrified him and reassured him at the same moment. It reassured him because it was human, and the four humans he'd ever met were the greatest leaders that Narnia had ever had, and yet it terrified him because all four of those humans were at Cair Paravel, and Aslan himself had warned him of all other humans, and how they were often crafty and self serving as even King Edmund the Just once was.

He proceeded cautiously, as the river was now coming before him, and he rose on his hind legs, attempting to smell the scent even better. But then he saw the man. He was sitting on the other side of the river, transfixed from seeing his brown hulking form approach. Then the man rose to his feet and spread his arms above his head, as if trying to look larger and more intimidating. Confused, the large one dropped back to all fours. Then, as if coming to a decision, he rose back onto his hind legs and said: "My name is Honeypaw, what is yours?" But the human did not answer him; instead he only spoke as if to himself.

"Has my head gone that far? Has the war caused me so much strife that my mind invents speech emanating from bears' lips?"

"Oh but human, you imagine nothing," Honeypaw insisted. But the human would not have it, and he shook his head as if to clear if, then he reached down to his skivvies - it was all he was wearing - and pulled a dagger from the waistband. He held it up above his head, then threw it overhand at the bear. The knife arced through the air, flipping end over end until it buried its blade in Honeypaw's chest. The poor bear didn't even have a chance to move an inch. He looked down at the weapon in horror, then feebly attempted to call for help, before crashing backward onto the grass. He let out a weak groan before he died.

Bruno Stolle crossed the river and retrieved his dagger. He then took a look about to see where he was. He had realized that the landscape had changed the instant he had surfaced, but then he had had to focus on the terrifyingly large bear that had beset him. The forest had changed impossibly, and on top of that, his clothes were nowhere to be seen. It was very cold out, it felt a little bit like when fall was turning to winter. He looked to the sky, and decided that it would be dark soon, and the temperature would fall further, so he began planning on how he would keep warm and comfortable that night. He cast around looking for ideas when his eyes landed on the limp bear. An idea began forming in his mind. He grimaced, but decided that it was ultimately for the best. He pulled his knife back out of his skivvies, and moved toward it.

* * *

It was dark when he completed his makeshift bed roll, and he was shivering. He set about gathering wood for a fire, and he made his way into the foreign woods that he now found himself in. He gathered a few fallen branches, broke some into manageable pieces, and brought them back to the location of his bed roll. He stacked them together, and began to look for tinder. He continued for about a half an hour, then a realization dawned on him. He didn't actually know how to start a fire without a lighter or at least a flint and steel, so he trudged morosely back to his makeshift bed and crawled inside his very furry sleeping bag and curled up, preparing for a miserable night. Contrarily, however, his body heat quickly warmed up the inside of the apparatus, and the skin facing out was effective in insulating from the cold breezes that swept over and near the river. It was no longer than five minutes before Bruno drifted to sleep, having no idea of the cataclysmic events that were being set in motion…

* * *

**Sorry about the short chapter everyone, but things are only just getting started, i promise! Feel free to leave reviews, it feels great when readers are interested enough to actually tell me about it, so yeah hang tight for next Monday everyone, have a great week!**

**-Jack**


	4. Creatures' Caravan

He started awake at the sound of a scream. It was clearly feminine, yet somehow maintained a lower pitch than most human females. He snatched his knife from its resting place and looked warily out of his bed roll. There, maybe ten meters away, was another bear, this one a sow. This bear, however, was not menacing in any way, shape or form. This bear was kneeling over the bear that Bruno had utilized the night before. It shed very human-like tears which cascaded down onto the pink and red mass on the ground. The sow looked up from the dead bear and uttered a low guttural growl. As Bruno watched, the bear met his gaze, and the bloodshot eyes spoke of supreme hate. She rose to her hind legs. This time, she released a roar which chilled Bruno to the bone. He knew an angry sow was nothing to be trifled with.  
He slowly got out of the skin bag all the while maintaining eye contact with the bear.

"I will feel no remorse for killing you, disgrace for a human," the bear suddenly said. He was so taken aback that the next few things that happened were a blur.  
First, the angry sow dropped to all fours and began hurtling toward him. Then he was vaguely aware of other presences around him and a creature which had the torso and head of a man, yet the legs of a goat was approaching from behind the charging bear, and then a huge mass interposed itself between Bruno and the sow. It had black hair all over it, and stood like a man, yet its legs were like those of a livestock animal, and its head was like that of a bull, with terrifying horns extending from its head. The legendary Minotaur. It must've been two meters tall. Roaring a challenge to the oncoming bear, it lunged against the attack.

The huge Minotaur slammed against the bear and tackled it to the ground. Upon contact, one of the bull-man's horns gored the bear through its side. The Narnian's snarling slowly morphed into whimpering, but before it changed all the way, the Minotaur followed up with a thick bladed dagger and rammed it into the bear's gut. After a short squeal, the bear was gone. Meanwhile, the faun behind lay in discolored grass; three arrows transfixed in his torso.

Bruno's rescuers surrounded him, watching him carefully. He rose to his feet, and looked at the beings gathered there. He was completely bewildered. Standing in a circle around him were legendary animals and mythical creatures. Aside from the Minotaur, there were two dwarves wielding bows, but with menacing battleaxes strapped to their backs. There was a wolf which scrambled half on all fours and half on his rear legs, and finally there was a great white tiger, which was bigger than any tiger he'd ever seen pictures of. Just then, the sun reached the horizon and began peeking over the mountains. In the blink of an eye, the wolf morphed into a scruffy looking man. He was naked as a newborn, but he hardly even seemed to notice. In his eyes was a feral glint, that gave Bruno the shivers.

But he knew none of this could be real, he wanted to scream at the thought of such beasts existing, and yet... at the same time, there was something strangely exciting about it.

Then the Minotaur spoke. It was a deep, slightly gravelly voice. "Human, we have been sent to rescue you from the Narnians."

"Narnians?"

"The savage beasts that we're attacking you. We can take you back to our matriarch, she foresaw your coming and wishes to make you king. What is your name, Son of Adam?"

"Son of Adam?" Bruno repeated, confused.

"Nevermind, friend. What name shall we call you by?"

"My name is Bruno Stolle." He liked the idea of being a king. Then one of the dwarves spoke up.

"Get up, we need to get moving before word gets 'round that another human has made it into Narnia.

"You're right, Tusselbroth, we best be moving. Sir Stolle, let's move." Bruno didn't know much about what they were speaking of, but he understood that enemies were not far off, and as a soldier, he knew that they needed to be on the move, so he began to get up out of his bed roll, but then he realized that he had nothing on but his skivvies so he hesitated. What ails you, human?"

"Erm... nothing, Mr.-"

"Baeldor," the Minotaur finished his sentence, and Bruno nodded.

"Nothing, Baeldor. Let's move." As he stood up, he held the bearskin around himself, using it as a sort of robe or cloak. "Lead on, Baeldor." So they began the trek back to wherever the creatures had come from.

It took them until well past noon to reach the creatures' hideout. They traveled west, up into the mountains.

There was one point along the way where Tusselbroth's fellow dwarf, Muttergoth, brought down a black stag with his bow, which had attempted to bound away. As it was dying, the animal cursed and spluttered at the dwarf, telling him how High King Peter the Magnificent would right all things and bring swift judgment upon evildoers. Bruno and his party had scoffed at the pathetic animal, and had continued on their way.

As they reached the creatures' hideout, a silence that had long ago fallen upon the group was broken by Baeldor.  
"I'm sorry Sir Stolle, but this is not our destination. It is where we spent last night. Today however, we must keep moving," he explained, looking to the sun. He judged that there was about an hour or two left before it set. "The bears and the faun will be discovered before too long, and we must be out of enemy territory by then." So they continued on through the mountain range, traveling along thin paths until finally - Bruno judged it had to be at least 1AM - they came out into a small valley and clearing where an encampment was erected. In the middle was a tent of a purple hue so dark, it nearly looked black, and the whole encampment looked foreboding in the dull moonlight.

As Baeldor led the small procession through the dark encampment, hundreds of ugly creatures came out of the darkness and gathered about them, beginning to follow them. Curious eyes everywhere peered out of the foreboding darkness to witness the coming of their new king. Then, Baeldor stopped. They were in the middle of the encampment now, standing in front of the purple tent. Bruno drew abreast of Baeldor as two small, hideous, ancient women stepped out of the tent (or at least Bruno was pretty sure they were women). The two old hags approached the newcomers and stopped a few feet short of them.

* * *

_***TO BE CONTINUED***_


	5. The Awakening

"Welcome Bruno Stolle, we've been expecting you." The voice came from one of the ancient women.

"You - you have?" he asked, bewildered.

"Indeed, our mistress found you in your land, and asked us to perform an enchantment to retrieve you from your world and bring you to ours, to become our king." This time the other old hag spoke.

"So... I'm not on Earth?" As Bruno spoke, he noticed something horrific. The two old women did not have noses, but little beaks. They didn't however, seem to be threatening in any way, in fact, they seemed quite sincere and friendly, so he decided not to feel prejudice toward them solely due to their bitter appearances.

"Earth? No, child, you are in the Western Wilderness, on the fringes of Narnia."

"Narnia?"

"Nevermind, Captain Stolle. We need your assistance, we need you to rescue our mistress from her imprisonment and lead us to victory."

"Imprisonment?"

"It is as you say, the evil king of Narnia has imprisoned her in a magical ice that can only be broken by a drop of human blood. We were hoping that we could prick your finger for that drop of blood..." The old woman trailed off, looking at him expectantly.

"So... Why a drop of my blood? Why has no other human freed her yet?"

Baeldor interjected, "The only humans in Narnia are the evil kings and queens and you, Sir Stolle. The evil kings and queens would never consider freeing our benevolent matriarch, they are just that; evil." Bruno scratched his chin, pondering his bizarre situation.

"No other humans you say?"

"None," said one of the dwarves standing nearby.

"The Narnians sound excessively cruel and their leaders tyrannous, I would be honored to fight by your side and reclaim the throne, so where is the enchanted ice where your mistress is being held?" Bruno queried.

"It is a banished ice, only retrievable via the use of spells, so please, follow us. We will lead you to the place where we conjure it up," the first hag said.

"Lead away," Bruno said, making a sweeping motion with one of his arms.

So the old women led him along with Baeldor and some other curious creatures to an outcropping of rock that created a sort of half arch with the ground just outside of the encampment, and stopped.

"This is where we shall summon our mistress, Jadis. Please, step back," then, turning to her companion, "let the circle be drawn." And the other hag bent over and began to scrawl a surprisingly perfect circle in the hard dirt beneath the tall outcropping. Bruno's skin crawled slightly when he realized that the circle was being drawn around him, then the first hag began to chant a haunting spell.

"_Achta mayuni aghi nah. Ayla aiyuni maginah, nasaldi nah nasaldi. _Achta mayuni aghi nah. Ayla aiyuni maginah." __A cold shiver ran down Bruno's spine as she finished her incantation,__ "WYLAE,__ _WYLAE_!" Something about the chant seemed dark and unnatural, but he figured that was because magic was completely nonexistent on earth. Suddenly the hag who had scrawled the circle in the ground produced a broken off scepter that looked suspiciously like ice from a small fissure in the rock and cried out as she plunged the sharp end into the dirt.

Instantly, ice sprung out from the spot where the scepter entered the ground and spread to where the rock outcropping met the dirt, and climbed up the rock. When it reached the tip of the outcropping, it began to fall down from the overhanging rock to the ground, making a sort of window, then without warning, there was a woman in the ice. It horrified him and excited him all at once. How it could be possible he knew not, but the woman seemed to be of surpassing beauty and he was suddenly sure that he wanted to get her out of her icy prison and help her save her people.

"Your hand, please." It was one of the hags. Still staring bewildered at the woman in the ice, he subconsciously lent her his hand, and she drew a small dagger. She took hold of his hand and drew the knife across it, garnering a small amount of blood. Then the woman in the ice, presumably Jadis, seemed to reach out of the ice for his hand. No, he realized with even more surprise, she actually _was_ reaching out of the ice. Transfixed, he took a step forward and reached to take her hand. The next moment, they touched.

Her hand was not icy cold as though she had been incapsulated in ice only seconds before, but was actually warm, and the instant his blood touched her palm, the ice about her shattered and came crashing down, and she was left standing there in a flowing white dress, her hand clutching his.

"I cannot thank you enough, Bruno Stolle," she said, lips turning up in a frighteningly attractive smile.


	6. Ambush

**a/n: okay everyone, sorry about the unannounced hiatus, but it couldn't be helped. I am back however, and so are all your favorite characters invented by C.S. Lewis. So sit back and enjoy the ride!**

**P.S. Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee regular weekly updates, but i promise i'm going to do my best.**

* * *

"So we know that the Ettins are coming through the Northern Marsh and penetrating Owlwood. We've sent troops to bottle them up there before they are able to — "

"Hark, my Lord! We have an emergency!" As the massive centaur courier burst through the vast double doors of Cair Paravel's Great Hall, High King Peter the Magnificent looked from his military advisor, Oreius, to the newcomer.

"I'm sorry?" the King inquired.

"Excuse me Your Highness, but a major issue has just bared its ugly face. A couple of bears were found dead, one skinned. Whoever did this was not a Narnian. And what's more, a faun, presumably with the bears at the time, was found a few meters away with three arrows in him. Said arrows have been confirmed as black dwarf arrows, the likes of which no one has seen for six years. Finally, deeper into the mountains, almost clearly out of Narnia, a black stag was found transfixed with one of the same missiles. Again, the likes of which have not been seen for six years, and if I may be so bold to remind you that six years prior to the day before yesterday, you and your siblings fulfilled the great prophecy, and defeated the White Witch with Aslan at the Fords of Beruna. So that means that the black dwarves who served under the White Witch are active again, and that can only spell bad news." The High King rose from his chair and stood to his full height.

"This is indeed bad news," He said. "Have a unit of my men go investigate this immediately. Fetch Edmund and make him aware of the situation."

"It will be done, my Lord."

"Oreius," High King Peter the Magnificent turned back to his noble military advisor. "You know what you're doing up north, remember that our first order of business up there is to prevent the Ettins from advancing south. See if you can't push them way back to the River Shribble eh?"

"Consider it done, my King," the eight foot centaur bowed and exited via the immense arched double doors.

Then High King Peter the Magnificent turned back to the courier. "Gaelstrom, you know what to do."

"Aye, Your Highness, I will go tell Captain Melvin the satyr to take his unit out to the west." With that, the centaur courier turned and left.

"Black dwarves…" Peter muttered under his breath, shaking his head. "What next? Jadis herself?"

* * *

The sun was resting on the treetops as Captain Melvin and his unit of men (or Narnians) at arms left Cair Paravel. They traveled west until nightfall, crossing the Great River shortly before halting for the night. The following morning, they moved slightly south and crossed the Rush River, continuing west. Captain Melvin's unit reached the Great River once again at the Fords of Beruna as the sun descended below the distant western mountains that bordered Narnia. His soldiers crossed the river and headed toward the great waterfall. When they reached it, the moon was high overhead, and Captain Melvin had his men set up camp for the night.

The following morning, they broke camp and crossed the Great River once again. They made their way through the Shuddering Wood and crossed the Telmar River in mid-afternoon. They skirted the southern brim of the Western Woods and caught up with the Great River once again. The sun had begun to set again when they reached Cauldron Pool, where Captain Melvin planned on resting his troops for the night. He wanted them to be fresh when they took to the mountains.

As night approached, several campfires were made on the south bank of the pool, and a few fauns even shed their armour and took a dip in the refreshing dark waters. The soldiers were grateful for the pool after two and a half long days on the march. It wasn't long before many a Narnian's snoring could be heard and the chatter throughout the camp died down.

Captain Melvin was sitting in the firelight of the westernmost fire at the end of their camp site with the darkness at his back and friendly faces around the campfire with him. He decided to ask his friend, the faun Sir Alan, to take the first watch since he knew the young warrior liked to stay up late most nights anyway. Sir Alan was to wake the tall Earthman Sir Drog to take the second shift. After two more hours, Sir Drog was to awaken Brackenwash, the massive Marsh-Wiggle who was meant to send young Orieus, the centaur whose parents named him after the legendary general, to his watch. Finally, the young centaur was to awaken Captain Melvin himself to take the last watch before the sun climbed back into the sky.

Captain Melvin turned to his right. Sir Alan was laughing at something a satyr named Borgen had said. The old faun hated to disturb the young soldier from his happy conversation, but he was tired and wanted to make sure that his underling didn't forget.

"Alan," he began, and the faun turned to him, still grinning. "Yes, sir?"

"Don't forget to go take watch, most of our unit is asleep already."

"Oh yes of course Captain," the faun said addressing his officer, "I'll go find a good spot right now."

"Thank you Sir Alan," the captain said, smiling at the young warrior. Turning to the rest of the soldiers seated around the campfire, "Alrighty boys, i'm gonna turn in for the night, y'all get some sleep now." A quiet chorus of "goodnight" circled the fire.

* * *

The bright sickle moon hung low in the sky when Baeldor led his band of fighters up the west side of the mountains near Cauldron Pool. As they reached the top where the waterfall was, the smell of smoke greeted their nostrils.

Tusselbroth came abreast of Baeldor and pointed out faint groups of embers sitting intermittently on the south bank of Cauldron Pool. "There are the remains of the campfires they so foolishly built. Let's go destroy them," he whispered vehemently. Just then, Bruno Stolle joined the Minotaur and the dwarf.

"So this party of Narnians was coming to massacre us in our sleep?" The German aviator asked quietly.

"Yes, these vicious beasts would have torn us to pieces before we could cry out for help," Tusselbroth stated bitterly. "Let's go kill them," he said, and began to descend the hill toward the Narnian camp.

"Wait! Tusselbroth you fool, what about the night watch? There's _always_ a watch you fool," Baeldor's angry whisper stopped the dwarf in its tracks.

Bruno shivered. He was wearing new armour given to him by Jadis, forged by the Black Dwarves specifically for him. He was also given a great sword named Narsbin that he wielded with two hands.

"There," Baeldor said, pointing to the figure of a large Earthman sitting on a boulder on the north bank of the river with a powerful triton sitting across his lap.

"Right, so let's circle around and take them from the south," Tusselbroth said.

"Better idea," Bruno cut in, "why don't we just shoot the sentry, and silence him instantly?"

"Now that's a warrior," Baeldor whispered proudly, grinning at the foreigner. "Who's our best archer here?" The Minotaur directed this question at the dwarf. After thinking for a few seconds, Tusselbroth spoke, "Kromgen, my second in command among us proud Black Dwarves."

"Great, so fetch him you little monster," Baeldor said mockingly. The dwarf chuckled, as he was accustomed to the Minotaur's jeers, and moved off back through their ranks to find Kromgen.

"Sir Stolle, let us slowly begin to lead our troops into position down in the south, the dwarf archer can take his shot from wherever he likes."

Bruno nodded, " Good idea Baeldor."

It wasn't more than five minutes later when Sir Bruno Stolle and Baeldor had led the bulk of their warriors to their positions just south of the sleeping Narnians. Bruno was on the most westerly end of their small force facing the enemy, and Baeldor was to lead their right flank into the eastern portion of the enemy camp.

Kromgen was close to Bruno, on a high rock to his left, aiming down at the sentry. Just then, the Earthman on watch stood. All the night attackers froze in their respective places, all wondering if he had seen something. The sentry then walked down the bank and waded into the pool, to cross it and wake the next watch. Kromgen took the golden opportunity, and took aim. A moment later, the dwarf's missile found the swimming watchman just beneath the jaw and just above the collarbones. There was a strangled cry, and a brief struggle in the water, followed by immediate silence.

Bruno raised his sword into the air in signal to Baeldor and the rest of his warriors.

* * *

The bright sickle moon hung low in the sky when Holmgrun the satyr awakened. He was unsure why he was awake, only that he wished he was still asleep. He yawned, and smelled the remnant whisps of smoke that undoubtedly curled up from the fire pit between he and his comrades. Across the embers from him were Jorgun and Melzer, both fauns, and on his sides were young Orieus and a Red Dwarf named Yelpurken. He stretched his arms and rolled over onto his right side so that his back was now facing into the circle of soldiers and his front was facing toward the pool. As he was about to close his eyes and drift back off to sleep, he noticed Sir Drog stand up. Lazily, he watched the big creature, the Earthman. He had always been mildly fascinated by Earthmen and their peculiar tritons, he thought. Then Sir Drog stepped into the pool and began to wade back to their side where he would wake up Brackenwash, and sleep for the rest of the night. Suddenly however, as Sir Drog was nearly all the way into the water, the most surprising and confusing thing happened.

Holmgrun heard a nearly silent smack as something collided with the Earthman. Drog uttered a brief cry of agony before he was silenced and plunged down into the dark water. As sleepy as Holmgrun was, his nerves were instantly on high alert, and he bellowed:_  
_

"EVERYONE WAKE UP! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! _AMBUSH!_"

He then stood up and kept on shouting as the Narnians tried to make sense of things, then the enemy was upon them, cutting them down where they lay. Few were able to rise before being killed. Holmgrun himself was struck down by an arrow, never to rise again.

Captain Melvin awakened to the ringing of metal on metal, as some of his warriors were able to rise and challenge the attackers, and the metallic smell of blood. He saw a man running toward him with a massive sword brandished over his head. He drew his sickle shaped sword in the blink of an eye, and moved to meet him. The human led with a massive downward strike and Melvin parried the blow, allowing it to glance off his blade at an angle. He then swiped his sword horizontally at his foe, but his weapon bit only into air, then the great sword wielded by the enemy came crashing down on his shoulder, removing from him his sword arm. He cried out in pain but was silenced mere seconds later as the sword made a second pass.

The skirmish was over in minutes, and the results were staggering. Of the Narnians, two fauns, Jorgun and Melzer, and Yelpurken remained. Of the night raiders, only three were killed. Ironically enough, Tusselbroth was among the unlucky dead, his head lying some feet from his shoulders with a dark path of blood between them. The other two were a wolf and another unlucky Black Dwarf.

"Leave them alive!" Baeldor bellowed as an ogre nearly bit the head off of Jorgun. The beast stepped back angrily. "We must let a few go back to Cair Paravel to tell the tyrants that they cannot walk all over us just yet, also," Baeldor continued, turning to the Narnian survivors who were forced to kneel before him, "tell your so called kings and queens that the Lady Jadis has been returned to Narnia, and with the help of this new Son of Adam Bruno Stolle, we will put her back on her rightful place, the throne of Narnia, and rid the land of evil tyrants such as your High King Peter and his wretched siblings." By now there was a faint grey light coming into the sky somewhere in the east.

"When morning is here, we'll set you pathetic creatures loose, and you can make your way back to the place from whence you came," added Bruno, "but seeing as you would've slain us unarmed when we slept had we not taken up arms, we have performed preemptive strike, and I really don't think there needs to be three of them... what do you think, mighty Minotaur?" Baeldor shrugged.

"I think that cruel beings such as these deserve nothing but the worst punishment," the man continued, and the three Narnians looked at one another fearfully, but not daring to speak up. Bruno turned around and faced away from them for a moment, then suddenly whipped around and buried the point of his blade in Melzer's stomach. The faun cried out in agony, and fell over onto his side. He whimpered softly as his lifeblood flowed out and soaked the grass beneath him. It was mere moments before the life passed out of him. The other faun and the Red Dwarf were thoroughly enraged at this, but were forced to keep quiet or else they'd both receive the same treatment.

"Well you two, hadn't you better be off to go tell your tyrant monarchs about us? Tell them that King Bruno of Mighty Germany and Queen Jadis of Narnia are leading The Resistance, and that their reign is soon to be over," the human turned scornfully away from them. "Leave."

The two Narnians looked at each other unsurely. "I SAID LEAVE!" Bruno wheeled on them as he bellowed these last words, and the two soldiers stumbled to their feet, Jorgun almost tripping, and began to run as fast as they could back toward Cair Paravel.

"Shoot at them," Baeldor ordered.

"Shoot... _AT_ them?" Kromgen asked, who was now standing next to Bruno and Baeldor.

"Yes, and take care not to strike them," Baeldor instructed. So the Black Dwarf fired an arrow just ahead of the two fleeing Narnians, causing them to flinch and weave. In another minute, the faun and Red Dwarf were out of sight, following the Great River into the Western Woods.


End file.
